Predators vs. Penguins 2017 final score: Pittsburgh survives furious Nashville rally to win Game 1

A disastrous first period doomed the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final despite a herculean effort at keeping the Pittsburgh Penguins from even shooting the puck.

The Penguins rode an early lead after an overturned goal to a 5-3 win, taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Matt Murray earned the win in goal with 22 saves. It was the first time the Predators lost Game 1 of any series this playoffs, and the first Stanley Cup Final game in Nashville history.

Oh, and the Penguins went almost two whole periods without a shot on net before Jake Guentzel scored the game-winning goal late in the third period. Pittsburgh won with four goals on nine shots and were out shot, 25-11, by the end of the game.

The Predators dug themselves a massive hole in the first period. Or they had that hole dug for them and got shoved in. It all depends on which team you root for.

Minutes into the first, Nashville’s P.K. Subban opened the scoring with a wrister that beat Murray. But, alas: the goal was waved off after a controversial offsides challenge review.

Nashville barely had time to digest this before the entire game got away from them. The first period went from good to bad to awful, as a few penalties and missed calls and odd mistakes led to a 3-0 Penguins lead after one period.

Evgeni Malkin, Conor Sheary, and Nick Bonino all scored in that frame.

You wouldn’t know how bad the first was by how the second played out. Nashville was utterly dominant, holding the Penguins without a shot on net over 20 minutes. It was the first time in franchise history that Pittsburgh hadn’t registered a shot on goal during a playoffs period.

And yet, the Predators had nothing but one goal from Ryan Ellis to show for it that period. The Penguins, outshot by 20-8 through two, were hanging on by Murray’s thread.

All of that hard work paid off with some luck of their own when Roman Josi’s third period shot ricocheted off of his teammate and past Murray to cut the Pittsburgh lead to 3-2. Shortly thereafter, Frederick Gaudreau tied the game with his first goal of the playoffs.

And yet ...

Yeah. Guentzel broke in and ripped one past Rinne for the go-ahead score with three minutes left in the third, and Bonino sunk the empty-net dagger for a stunning Game 1 win.